Sustainability Report: Instructional Leadership
Julie Monroe-Pena
Sustainability Report
EDU658: Instructional Leadership
January 26, 2015
Instructor: Dr. Shane Duncanson
Introduction
The purpose of this report is to analyze the organization’s continuity of change and the strategies used to incorporate those modifications. When doing revisions it is important to determine the sustainability of that transformation. This account will examine the changes made in our H.O.S.T. After School Program and will shed light on what factors are nonnegotiable. Additionally, it will show which changes will be made that will have a positive result to our program not only now, but in the future as well.
Readiness of our Leaders
There are several leaders in this change the …show more content…
principal, H.O.S.T. Administration, Migrant Education, Reading Teacher, several Paraprofessionals, and our staff including myself. Together we identify the core elements and nonnegotiable items in our change plan. The main change is to increase the time allotted to students to do reading at our program.
Program/practices for scale and sustainability
Our program has and is having success in empowering students to grow and develop in a safe and caring environment. The area that can be improved is the enriching environment, why? First, the program needs to have access to computers in the area where HOST is located. Second because the students get computers time only three days out of the week and for 20 minutes a day while at HOST. Third, the students are given 30 minutes, but by the time they go to and from the computer lab, which takes them 10 minutes, they only get 20 minutes at most. My personal feelings are that our children can benefit from having their own computer lab at HOST or tablets that they can access anytime they are in the afterschool program. Most of the students at our program are of Hispanic decent some of them struggle in reading, comprehension and writing. I can only imagine what can be done to help them in those areas if we had our own computers or tablets. Our students have a 30 minute block in which reading is being implemented already, if we had reading and writing software on tablets or computers our students can reap the benefits.
What is it?
Why is it important? In order for our program to continue to empower students to grow and develop in a safe, caring, and educationally enriched environment I feel that the students need more reading time. My thoughts are that if the students had tablets in our afterschool program to work with in reading that they would make rapid advancement in reading. The stakeholders that I will approach are the principal at the school, since she is a person that commends a lot of power. In other words when she speaks people listen, plus she knows other people as well that have that type of authority. Identifying the main change will assist us to determine whether or not all elements within this change are crucial. At this point our plan can be tweaked to fit the needs of our students. The need and wiliness of all stakeholders to relocate resources for the benefit of our change plan is amazing. In corporations or companies change is evitable and a must in order to stay in the game. The key to change is to be willing to listen to others …show more content…
opinions.
How is it high quality and valued by stakeholders?
This change is high quality because of the students that this change targets. Most of the students are English Language Learners and struggle with comprehension. Some of them are behind in their level of reading and writing skills. What results are anticipated? This change will be enriching for the students in that they will increase their level of reading, comprehension, and writing skills. The stakeholders will benefit because they will actually see the student’s progress.
Non-negotiable elements of the program/practice
There will be items in the change plan that is nonnegotiable in order to keep the integrity of the change. During our planning stages as a group we decided that reading and comprehension were nonnegotiable. These two items are non-negotiable since they are our focal point of interest. Without these two we would not have a need for the change plan.
Scale and sustainability scores In order to define the scale and sustainability score of the change plan we had to review the Scale and Sustainability scores located within the book “Leading Change Step-By-Step” by Jody Spiro. These results will let us know to what extent certain features have been merged into our program (Spiro, 2011). Our results show that we have an all-inclusive plan, but not all stakeholders have bought into it yet. What this says about us is that we are good at working together and coming up with a plan. However, this does not mean that everyone agrees with it. There is still some resistance to the actual plan change. This of course is expected, since change is never easy, nonetheless a good way to get individuals on board is by communicating and educating them. Education & Communication: One of the best ways to overcome resistance to change is to educate people about the change effort beforehand. Being upfront with education and communication lets everyone have knowledge about the changes. “People tend to see things that are happening now as more urgent than those that will happen in the future.” (Weber, 2006). Sometimes individuals are afraid of something they do not understand, however once they learn how this change is to come or will be made they are not as afraid. It is only then that they will start asking questions once they are informed. This however is not a guarantee that they will accept the change right away, but now they are more ready to listen to what one has to say.
The development of scale and sustainability strategies for the change strategy Creating an environment where there is open communication and providing them an outlet to speak about their concerns will minimize a lot of the resistance.
Providing the team with a consistent and clear message will minimize resistance. If I change my views or do not sound confident in my change plans, the message will be inconsistent. On the other hand, if I am consistent and clear; offering a clear vision and specific goals to achieve, the team will be focused and know what is expected of them. I will also make sure the “messages are communicated through the participants’ ears” (Spiro, 2011). Communication is a key element, for this element we scored a five. However, this needs to be on a continual basis in order for the group to be informed throughout the school year. Communication is not something that happens last minute; it is something that is practice throughout with
co-workers.
In conclusion “Whenever you introduce change, you are sure to encounter barriers” (Drexler & Mukerji, 2012). The best change leaders; will have a plan B for when things go wrong. Knowing your group, making sure you communicate with them and realizing you cannot make change happen alone will help your change effort become successful. Communication must be clear and consistent while your plan needs to have important feasible goals. Another area to be aware of is that the plan change is not written on stone and that there might be changes that will take place throughout the planning stages. What one might come up with at the end as a leader for change might be totally different than what one started with.
References
Drexler, Paul & Mukerji, Ani. (2012). Boots on the Ground: Introducing A Community of
Practice at Bechtel. Learning Solutions Magazine.
HOST Afterschool Programs, (2014).http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/departments/101/h-o-s-t-before- and-after-care-programs/about/
Spiro, J. (2011). Leading change step-by-step: Tactics, tools, and tales. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Weber, E. (2006). Experience‐based and description‐based perceptions of long‐term risk: why globalwarming does not scare us (yet). Climatic Change, 77(1‐2), 103‐120.
Sustainability Report
EDU658: Instructional Leadership
January 26, 2015
Instructor: Dr. Shane Duncanson
Introduction
The purpose of this report is to analyze the organization’s continuity of change and the strategies used to incorporate those modifications. When doing revisions it is important to determine the sustainability of that transformation. This account will examine the changes made in our H.O.S.T. After School Program and will shed light on what factors are nonnegotiable. Additionally, it will show which changes will be made that will have a positive result to our program not only now, but in the future as well.
Readiness of our Leaders
There are several leaders in this change the …show more content…
principal, H.O.S.T. Administration, Migrant Education, Reading Teacher, several Paraprofessionals, and our staff including myself. Together we identify the core elements and nonnegotiable items in our change plan. The main change is to increase the time allotted to students to do reading at our program.
Program/practices for scale and sustainability
Our program has and is having success in empowering students to grow and develop in a safe and caring environment. The area that can be improved is the enriching environment, why? First, the program needs to have access to computers in the area where HOST is located. Second because the students get computers time only three days out of the week and for 20 minutes a day while at HOST. Third, the students are given 30 minutes, but by the time they go to and from the computer lab, which takes them 10 minutes, they only get 20 minutes at most. My personal feelings are that our children can benefit from having their own computer lab at HOST or tablets that they can access anytime they are in the afterschool program. Most of the students at our program are of Hispanic decent some of them struggle in reading, comprehension and writing. I can only imagine what can be done to help them in those areas if we had our own computers or tablets. Our students have a 30 minute block in which reading is being implemented already, if we had reading and writing software on tablets or computers our students can reap the benefits.
What is it?
Why is it important? In order for our program to continue to empower students to grow and develop in a safe, caring, and educationally enriched environment I feel that the students need more reading time. My thoughts are that if the students had tablets in our afterschool program to work with in reading that they would make rapid advancement in reading. The stakeholders that I will approach are the principal at the school, since she is a person that commends a lot of power. In other words when she speaks people listen, plus she knows other people as well that have that type of authority. Identifying the main change will assist us to determine whether or not all elements within this change are crucial. At this point our plan can be tweaked to fit the needs of our students. The need and wiliness of all stakeholders to relocate resources for the benefit of our change plan is amazing. In corporations or companies change is evitable and a must in order to stay in the game. The key to change is to be willing to listen to others …show more content…
opinions.
How is it high quality and valued by stakeholders?
This change is high quality because of the students that this change targets. Most of the students are English Language Learners and struggle with comprehension. Some of them are behind in their level of reading and writing skills. What results are anticipated? This change will be enriching for the students in that they will increase their level of reading, comprehension, and writing skills. The stakeholders will benefit because they will actually see the student’s progress.
Non-negotiable elements of the program/practice
There will be items in the change plan that is nonnegotiable in order to keep the integrity of the change. During our planning stages as a group we decided that reading and comprehension were nonnegotiable. These two items are non-negotiable since they are our focal point of interest. Without these two we would not have a need for the change plan.
Scale and sustainability scores In order to define the scale and sustainability score of the change plan we had to review the Scale and Sustainability scores located within the book “Leading Change Step-By-Step” by Jody Spiro. These results will let us know to what extent certain features have been merged into our program (Spiro, 2011). Our results show that we have an all-inclusive plan, but not all stakeholders have bought into it yet. What this says about us is that we are good at working together and coming up with a plan. However, this does not mean that everyone agrees with it. There is still some resistance to the actual plan change. This of course is expected, since change is never easy, nonetheless a good way to get individuals on board is by communicating and educating them. Education & Communication: One of the best ways to overcome resistance to change is to educate people about the change effort beforehand. Being upfront with education and communication lets everyone have knowledge about the changes. “People tend to see things that are happening now as more urgent than those that will happen in the future.” (Weber, 2006). Sometimes individuals are afraid of something they do not understand, however once they learn how this change is to come or will be made they are not as afraid. It is only then that they will start asking questions once they are informed. This however is not a guarantee that they will accept the change right away, but now they are more ready to listen to what one has to say.
The development of scale and sustainability strategies for the change strategy Creating an environment where there is open communication and providing them an outlet to speak about their concerns will minimize a lot of the resistance.
Providing the team with a consistent and clear message will minimize resistance. If I change my views or do not sound confident in my change plans, the message will be inconsistent. On the other hand, if I am consistent and clear; offering a clear vision and specific goals to achieve, the team will be focused and know what is expected of them. I will also make sure the “messages are communicated through the participants’ ears” (Spiro, 2011). Communication is a key element, for this element we scored a five. However, this needs to be on a continual basis in order for the group to be informed throughout the school year. Communication is not something that happens last minute; it is something that is practice throughout with
co-workers.
In conclusion “Whenever you introduce change, you are sure to encounter barriers” (Drexler & Mukerji, 2012). The best change leaders; will have a plan B for when things go wrong. Knowing your group, making sure you communicate with them and realizing you cannot make change happen alone will help your change effort become successful. Communication must be clear and consistent while your plan needs to have important feasible goals. Another area to be aware of is that the plan change is not written on stone and that there might be changes that will take place throughout the planning stages. What one might come up with at the end as a leader for change might be totally different than what one started with.
References
Drexler, Paul & Mukerji, Ani. (2012). Boots on the Ground: Introducing A Community of
Practice at Bechtel. Learning Solutions Magazine.
HOST Afterschool Programs, (2014).http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/departments/101/h-o-s-t-before- and-after-care-programs/about/
Spiro, J. (2011). Leading change step-by-step: Tactics, tools, and tales. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Weber, E. (2006). Experience‐based and description‐based perceptions of long‐term risk: why globalwarming does not scare us (yet). Climatic Change, 77(1‐2), 103‐120.